Federal employment cuts to National Park Service, other agencies draw sharp criticism here

Chicago Tribune

02-03-2025

Former Indiana Dunes National Park Superintendent Paul Labovitz is just one of the critics of Trump administration edicts aimed at reducing federal agencies' employment and programs in Northwest Indiana.
'I've been training like twice a year about how you can't have a hostile workplace, you can't harass your employees, and here are the penalties for that. What we're seeing is literally wholesale harassment, hostility, toward the entire federal workforce by the administration.'
'It's unbelievable. I mean I would get fired if I treated employees like that,' he said.
Nicole Cantello is president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 704 in Chicago, which represents U.S. Environmental Protection Agency workers in the six-state Region 6.
'It's something every single week, sometimes every single day,' she said. 'It is just like having waves come over you.'
Eric Anderson was one of four employees at Indiana Dunes National Park who got anti-Valentines on Feb. 14 from the U.S. Department of the Interior.
Anderson attended an all-staff meeting a couple of weeks earlier and knew changes would be coming.
'Those of us who were probationary employees knew that things weren't good,' he said, but he thought he was safe because he was a firefighter. 'They said that law enforcement and fire would be good,' he said.
But Anderson's title was biological sciences technician, not firefighter. 'Some kid who's trying to sweep things with AI and a spreadsheet, if that,' caught Anderson in his net.
The Department of Government Efficiency has hired young programmers to address President Donald Trump's order that the federal labor force be trimmed.
A hiring freeze meant that probationary employees had to go.
'The National Park Service is implementing President Donald J. Trump's Hiring Freeze Executive Order across the federal civilian workforce. The order does allow for exemptions for the hiring of certain positions,' the park service said in a statement. 'The NPS is assessing our most critical staffing needs for park operations for the coming season and is working to hire key positions. The NPS is committed to protecting public lands, infrastructure, and communities while ensuring public access. '
The Interior Department's letter to Anderson included boilerplate language that contradicted positive performance reviews Anderson said he received: 'The department determined that you have failed to demonstrate fitness or qualifications for continued employment because your subject matter knowledge, skills and abilities do not meet the department's current needs, and it is necessary and appropriate to terminate, during the probationary period, your appointment to the position of Bio Science Tech (Fire Eff. Monitor).'
Anderson had big plans for Valentine's Day. He was hoping to leave work early to enjoy a nice dinner with his wife before seeing a live show put on by a favorite podcast. Instead, he had to sort through everything in his workspace to see what had to be turned in to his supervisor and what personal items had to be taken home.
U.S. Rep. Frank Mrvan harshly criticized the Trump administration's actions so far.
'While I strongly support creating efficiencies in the federal government through eliminating waste, fraud and abuse, the administration's approach is creating inefficiencies and unnecessary confusion for individuals, small businesses, municipalities and nonprofit organizations that provide real benefits to seniors, veterans and children,' he said in a statement.
'As a member of the House Appropriations Committee, I believe it is unconstitutional to change and not enact appropriation legislation signed into law, and look forward to working with my colleagues to ensure that projects and programs that positively impact Northwest Indiana are implemented.'
'With regard to the loss of jobs at the Indiana Dunes National Park, I will continue to work to ensure that this incredible economic driver of our region has the resources and personnel it needs to maintain its magnificent educational programs and ensure the safety of residents and visitors,' Mrvan said.
'Additionally, as a member of the Subcommittee that supports programs through the Department of Energy, I will do my utmost to see that the full potential and new good-paying jobs from the Hydrogen Hub project at the BP facility in Whiting are realized as soon as possible,' he added.
Labovitz noted how the Trump administration fired employees taking care of nuclear fuel safety and then had difficulty rehiring them because they all had to turn in their government phones.
'Let's fire all the firefighters for the U.S. Forest Service right before the fire season starts,' he said. 'That kind of hits home here because Indiana Dunes' fire program is the only wildland fire-trained people in the region.
'You read about LA burning up, it could be Dune Acres here. It could just as easily happen here,' Labovitz said.
'It's not very strategic. It's sort of a nuclear approach. It's a great gesture to people who aren't thinking about the consequences, but if they wanted to save money in government, they should sit down about 20 to 30 employees and say how could we be more efficient in government. In two hours they probably would come up with some solutions that would save money and make government better.'
Save the Dunes Executive Director Betsy Maher urged people to contact their representatives in the House of Representatives and Senate, just as her nonprofit is doing, to speak out about the effects on Indiana Dunes National Park.
'We are expecting impacts on the park's ability to carry out critical resources work in the park, such as invasive species management, and impact the visitor experience,' she said.
'There are some real safety and security risks that come with not adequately staffing our parks,' Maher added.
Job cuts could affect beach emergencies, lost or dehydrated hikers and others. Even not mowing can affect visibility for drivers. 'All of these things are quite troubling,' Maher said.
Even the park's ability to collect visitation fees could be affected. Last year, those fees supported $1.86 million in projects, Maher said.
Funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, much heralded in the past for improving the Great Lakes environment, is threatened by Trump and his supporters.
'It breaks my heart,' Maher said. Save the Dunes was aggressive in its support for that legislation.
'I've heard multiple times that the park heavily relies on those sources to carry out that restoration work in the park,' she said.
'You can undo progress in certain restoration areas 20 years by not doing proper management for just one year,' Maher said. 'The impacts are vast and go beyond the national park. We can't lose a season of treatment.'
Volunteers help the park remove invasive species, but they can't do the work by themselves. Park staff must do much of the work, she said.
Friends of the Indiana Dunes is a nonprofit that partners with the national park, Indiana Dunes State Park and Dunes Learning Center. President Angel Gochee-Goins said her organization raised $75,000 for the national park last year. The group planned to be involved at Maple Sugar Times this weekend at Chellberg Farm.
Unlike Save the Dunes, the Friends group isn't an advocacy organization. 'We will continue to provide financial and volunteer support in ways that the National Park requests,' she said, as long as the nonprofit's bylaws permit it.
In 2023, the park attracted 2.3 million visitors, making it Indiana's biggest tourist attraction. The park generates an estimated $206 million in economic output in local gateway communities surrounding the park, she said.
'Just this past December, our Superintendent Jason Taylor spoke at a Save the Dunes annual membership meeting about how the park staff is all overworked and giving everything they can to their jobs, and he emphasized the importance of Save the Dunes, who brings in additional resources for the national park,' Maher said. 'Impacts of these probationary firings just made the strain on park staff significantly worse.'
The EPA is similarly affected, Cantello said. 'Our agency was already understaffed' before the job cuts came under Trump's first few weeks in office.
'What these cuts tell you is this administration stands with the polluters,' Cantello said.
Among the confusion and chaos, as Cantello characterized it, from the Trump administration was an Elon Musk edict that employees had to list 5 things they did last week or be fired. That email was sent on Feb. 21 and came with a Feb. 24 deadline.
'Our agency told us not to answer it,' she said.
An order that employees return to the office is troubling, too, she said. With remote work, Region 6 EPA workers are scattered across the country. 'I have one employee in Hartford, Connecticut.' Others are in Dallas and the far reaches of Wisconsin.
'It just made it easier to hire and get the best possible people' when proximity to the office was taken out of the equation previously, Cantello said.
Her union has filed grievances over the return-to-office order and is looking at additional responses to other edicts by DOGE and others.